Metallic rod-packing.



No. 832,434. PATENTED OCT. 2, 1906. w. SUDEKUM.

METALLIC ROD PACKING.

nrmcuzon FILED 11.9. 1906.

THE NORRIS PETERS cm, Waswmarau, n. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

-WILLIAM SUDEKUM, OF NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TOAUGUST SCHARDT, OF NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE.

METALLIC ROD-PACKING- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 2, 1906.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM SUDEKUM, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of Nashville, county of Davidson, State of Tennessee, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Metallic Rod-Packing, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My invention relates to metallic rod-packing used in steam and otherfluid-pressure-operated engines, pumps, &c., and more especially tocertain improvements in such packings wherein split soft-metal rings areused in conjunction with two follower-rings of hard metal for holdingthe said soft-metal rings in position.

My object is to provide a soft-metal ring for such packings which can bereadily applied to or removed from the rod and one which is susceptibleof application to rods of various diameters and which, moreover, willnot require machining to fit the same to said rod, thereby dispensingwith considerable cost in the manufacture of such rings; furthermore, toprovide such a ring as will be efficient in maintaining a fluid-tightoint and which will readily conform itself to the rod so as to properlyfit the same and be durable in use.

With these objects in view my invention consists in the novelconstruction of metallic packing-rings and details thereof, as describedereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, and moreparticularly pointed out in the claims hereto appended.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of a stufling-boxwith rod in elevation, showing the application of my invention thereto.Fig. 2 is a plan view of one of my improved packing-rings. Fig. 3 is aplan view showing the free ends of the ring in the act of being openedfor application to a rod, and Fig. 4 is a fragmentary plan view of amodified form of my ring.

Referring to the drawings, in which the same reference charactersdesignate the same or corresponding parts in all the views, the numeral1 indicates a part of a cylinder-head to which the stuffing box orcasing 3 is removably secured by suitable threaded bolts 15, the rod 2passing freely through the opening 16 in the outer end of the saidcasing or box and loosely through the bore of a gland 6, seated in theopening for the rod through the cylinder-head. Two concave followerrings4 and 5, preferably of hard metal, such as brass, are mounted upon therod within the stuffing-box with their concavities toward each other.The ring 4 bears against the outer head of the stuffing-box, while thering 5 is provided with flange extension 5, forming a seat for one endof a helical spring 14, whose other end bears against the gland 6.Confined between the two followers 4 and 5 are my improved packing-rings7, made of soft metal, such as Babbitt metal or the like. Two of theserings, which have beveled edges fitting the bevel of the concavefollowers, are mounted on the rod with their inner surfaces held closethereto by a confining-ring 8 of the same kind, whose body covers thejoint b'e-- tween the abutting edges of the said rings and whose freeends break joints with the joints of the inner packing-rings.

As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, each of the rings 7 (and similarly the ring8) is split at one side of its circumference, the free ends 9 and 10being beveled, so that when brought near together, as in 2, they willoverlap. Diametrically opposite the split ends 9 and 10 I provide anundercut groove 11' by cutting away a portion of the metal, so as toform overlapping inner walls. This removal of a certain portion of themetal, leaving the inner walls comparatively thin strips overlapping thegroove thus formed, makes the body of the metal at this pointsusceptible of ready manipulation when heated to a sufficient degree bya torch or the like, so that the ring can be easily bent to increase ordecrease its diameter for adapting it to various sizes of rods, and italso makes it possible to open the ring sufliciently Without injurythereto to permit its removal from the rod without disconnecting it, forit is only necessary to remove the stufling-box gland or cover, as byremoving the bolts 15, freeing the packing from the spring and openingthe rings, as indicated by the arrows, Fig. 2, to remove them from therod. With a ring so constructed I have found in practice that withoutany machining or expensive milling operation to fit the ring to a givenrod I can readily apply a ring of a given diameter to rods varying asmuch as and even more than a quarter of an inch by simply cutting aquarter of an inch, more or less, from the free ends 9 and 10 of thering, thus permitting the ends to contact closely, as in Fig. 2, to fitsmaller sizes of rods. -This ada tability greatly reduces the cost ofmanu acture as compared.

to the rings of this type as heretofore made, and, moreover, the ringsapplied to the rod very readily work down to the proper surface, so thatthe internal contour of the ring, even when changed, as above noted, ispractically undisturbed and readily conforms to the rod.

A modified form of ring 7, Fig. 4, may be used, if desired. In this formthe walls 13 overlap the recess of groove 11; but they are not quite sothin as the walls 12, Fig. 3, and hence the groove 11 should be somewhatdeeper.

The form of stufling-box shown, it should be observed, is merely oneform with which my packing-ring can be used and is shown simply forconvenience of illustration.

I am aware that soft-metal packing-rings, both split and sectional, withbeveled edges, have been hitherto proposed and also that concavefollower-rings for supporting metallic rod-packing rings are old. HenceI do not claim such features broadly; but

What I do claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates, is

1. In a metallic rod-packing, the combination with the rod, andcylinder-head, and a set of oppositely-disposed concavefollowerrings, ofa spring between the cylinder-head and one of said rings for holdingthem outwardly from the cylinder-head, a set of softmetal packing-ringsconfined between said followers, said rings being split at one side andhaving an undercut groove at the opposite side thereof, substantially asdescribed.

2. In a metallic rod-packing, the combination with the rod, andcylinder-head, and a set of oppositely-disposed concave followerrings,of a spring between the cylinder-head and one of said rings for holdingthem outwardly from the cylinder-head, a set of softmetal packing-ringsconfined between said followers, each of said rings having a groove atits inner wall opposite the split with their inner walls overlapping thegroove, substantially as described.

3. The herein-described improved metal packing-ring, consisting of asplit soft-metal ring, having an undercut groove in its inner wallopposite the split, substantially as described.

4. The herein-described improved metal packing-ring, consisting of asplit soft-metal ring having a groove in its inner wall opposite thesplit in the ring with the inner walls overlapping said groove,substantially as described.

5. The herein-described improved metal packing-ring, consisting of asplit soft-metal ring, having one or more beveled edges and providedwith an undercut groove in its inner wall opposite the split,substantially as described.

6. The herein-described improved metal packing-ring, consisting of asplit soft-metal ring having one or more beveled edges and provided witha groove in its inner wall opposite the split in the ring with the innerwalls overlapping said groove, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM SUDEKUM.

Witnesses:

R. G. COURTNEY, H. I. HOLBAOH.

